I can’t think of another game in recent memory with a visual style I’d most want to see translated into a jigsaw puzzle than Cuphead. Well, whaddya know? USAopoly must’ve gone off and made a deal with The Devil, because my wish of a Cuphead jigsaw puzzle has been granted!
Even in a static medium, the game’s expressive, vintage 1930s cartoon animation jumps to life in this 1,000 piece 19″ x 27″ (actual size is 19.25″ x 26.625″) premium puzzle, Cuphead and Mugman happily standing atop poker chip stacks in front of a grinning, looming Devil. The only thing missing is some big band jazz. You’ll have to provide the tunes on your own, just turn the game on and let it run in the background while you jigsaw away.
The pieces in my box all had clean, smooth cuts, ensuring that they fit together and held snug. The completed puzzle can be moved around fairly well and lifted at the corners without crumbling apart, so if I wanted to (and I surely will be at some point) I could easily frame it without having to slather on a bunch of damaging glue or spray sealant. An occasional piece has an odd curve or shape, but by and large the pieces are cut in a typical jigsaw design.
Cuphead is known for its tough level of difficulty, but I would say its jigsaw counterpart is a little tamer than the video game. At a glance it looks like it’ll be quite brutal as the image is made up of what appears to be large sections of the same flat colors and patterns. But once you crack open the box and get a closer look at the pieces, you’ll find that there is a lot of subtle texturing and border outlining to help distinguish between like colors and identify patterns.
Between the title header in the top-right corner and the copyright subheading along nearly the full length of the bottom edge, the puzzle also has a lot of text pieces that are easy to pick out so you can get a quick start narrowing down the image after securing the border.
Overall, the puzzle is of moderate challenge, or perhaps a hair above moderate, depending on your skill and experience with jigsaw puzzles.
The Cuphead “Don’t Deal with the Devil” premium puzzle is out in limited availability (as of press time Amazon only has one left in stock while GameStop only has it available at certain retail locations), but if you can track down a box you better grab it and run and gun your behind to the checkout before this bad boy goes totally out of print. You need to buy this puzzle, even if it means anteing up your own soul with The Devil himself.
Buy From: Amazon and GameStop for MSRP $19.99.
Disclosure: Puzzle purchased by reviewer.